Thursday Music News

While the official website remains mum about Lollapalooza 2013 lineup confirmations, rumors and confirmations as to who will play the Chicago music festival are popping up every day. But now the artists have started confirming appearances themselves, and it looks like the headliners this year will be The Postal Service, Phoenix, Vampire Weekend, and The National, and The Killers, among others. Reception to the news seems to be lukewarm online, which is not that surprising when you consider the unique disdain Mumford & Sons seem to elicit from their very vocal detractors. But the real star of the show leading up to the festival is Consequence of Sound, who are keeping a fantastic Lollapalooza lineup page updated with a list that categorizes all the acts as Confirmed, Expected, Logical, and Rumored — all with a link to supporting evidence alongside. Stay tuned for more updates. [CoS]

photo by Ron Henry

The National are releasing a new album in May called Trouble Will Find Me on 4AD. Singer Matt Berninger, whose deep baritone is one of the hallmarks of the band, described the new record as more “immediate and visceral” than their previous work. This will be The National’s seventh full-length, and their first since 2010’s High Violet, but before the labum drops the band will be screening a documentary, Mistaken For Strangers, which chronicles their tour in support of High Violet. The doc is directed by Tom Berninger, the songer’s brother, and will premiere at the Tribeca film festival in April. [CoS]

In the words of Prince‘s current backing band 3rd Eye Girl, “His Purpleness will tour clubs in seven West Coast cities with four performances at each stop”. But the best part is that Seattle is one of those cities, and that means Prince will be playing four shows at Showbox in just a few weeks! He’ll also stop in Vancouver B.C., Las Vegas, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, and Anaheim. Get your tickets asap, and for now, listen to one of the new tracks that His Purpleness has dropped online in the last couple months. [Paste]

Kurt Vile has chosen to debut his new single “Never Run Away” on Philadelphia’s local TV via a commercial that simply sees him introduce the song before putting it on the record player. The real treat is watching his 3-year-old daughter dance around to the song (she loves it). The song is really really good, and the commercial is the cutest thing you’ll see all day. [CoS]